1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a key mechanism of a bassoon, and particularly to a structure of an E key to open or close a sound hole of E of a bassoon. This application is based on patent application No. Hei 8-317768 filed in Japan, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Prior Art
A bassoon (i.e., Fagott in German or fagotto in Italian) is a kind of woodwind instruments. The bassoon provides a key mechanism which operates to open or close sound holes which are arranged along a tube. A conventional example of the basson will be explained in conjunction with FIG. 3 and FIGS. 4A, 4B. FIG. 3 is a side view in left side of the bassoon; FIG. 4A is a plan view showing a part of the key mechanism whilst FIG. 4B is a front view of the key mechanism partially in section and partially broken away. As shown in the above figures, a tube 5 of the bassoon is constructed by a tenor joint 1, a double joint 2, a long joint 3 and a bell joint 4. A key mechanism 6 is provided around an outer periphery of the tube 5 to open or close sound holes each of which corresponds to each of prescribed notes (e.g., B.music-flat., B, C, C.music-sharp., . . . ). With respect to the key mechanism 6, an E key 7, a B.music-flat. key 8 and a F.music-sharp. key 9 are provided to open or close sounds holes 6a, 6b and 6c respectively, which correspond to the prescribed notes of E, B.music-flat. and F.music-sharp.. The keys 7, 8 and 9 are arranged in parallel in a width direction of the tube and in proximity to each other. Those three keys are selectively operated by the fingering using only a thumb of a right hand of a performer. The E key 7 is located at the center of the three keys. A structure of the E key 7 is shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Herein, the E key 7 provides a key body 11, which acts as a key lever and a pad cup 12 as well, and a pad P. The E key 7 is arranged to cover the E sound hole 6a. Rollers 13 and 14 are provided at both sides of the key body 11 in a free rotation manner. A hook 15 is formed as an integral part of the key body 11 and is a projection which projects from a part of the key body 11. A key rod 16 is provided in a free rotation manner at an outer periphery of the double joint 2. So, the hook 15 is supported by the key rod 16. Key levers 17 and 18 are provided for the B.music-flat. key 8 and the F.music-sharp. key 9 respectively and are arranged at both sides of the key body 11. Rollers 19 and 20 are provided for the key levers 17 and 18 respectively in a free rotation manner and are arranged to face with the rollers 13 and 14 of the key body 11 respectively. The rollers 13, 14, 19 and 20 are used to provide easy fingering for the thumb of the right hand of the performer with respect to the key body 11 and the key levers 17, 18. Incidentally, recesses 21 and 22 are formed at both sides of the key body 11 to hold the rollers 13 and 14 respectively.
The conventional example of the bassoon described above has a problem in terms of the fingering of the thumb of the right hand, as follows:
As shown in FIG. 4A, the rollers 13 and 14 of the E key 7 are arranged outside of the outer periphery of the pad cup 12. For this reason, a relatively long distance `L` should be provided between the rollers 13 and 14. Due to the long distance L between the rollers 13 and 14, a long distance should be inevitably provided between the E key 7 and the B.music-flat. key 8 and between the E key 7 and the F.music-sharp. key 9. When performing on the bassoon, the thumb of the right hand requires a certain range of movement from the E key 7 to the key lever 17 of the B.music-flat. key 8 or to the key lever 18 of the F.music-sharp. key 9. However, due to the long distance described above, the thumb of the right hand should move in a relatively broad range of movement. So, it is difficult for the performer to subjecting the thumb of the right hand to fast passage (e.g., rapid ascending of notes or rapid descending of notes) within the sounds (or notes) of E, B.music-flat. and F.music-sharp..